Dive Brief:

• The price of carbon steel pipe went up last month for the first time since last March, and fabricated steel rose, too, which helped push up the Engineering and Construction Cost Index (ECCI) to a reading of 54.2.
• The index had been staying around the no-rise/no-decline mark of 50 since April, according to its producers, IHS Inc. and the Procurement Executives Group (PEG).
• The increase notwithstanding, however, the two organizations are standing by a prediction of flat steel prices over the course of 2014.

Dive Insight:

The index is compiled from answers that IHS and PEG get from the people who do the buying at engineering, procurement and construction companies. They are asked about actual transactions and about what they expect to happen in the next six months with what they pay for individual materials, equipment, and subcontractors in a given region.